Competency F4: Design Hydronic System Controls

Today’s hydronic systems can be fine-tuned marvels of comfort. It was recognized long ago that heating our buildings with water afforded the people who lived and worked within them the greatest comfort level over all other types of distribution systems available, and the act of heating using an insulator (air) as the transfer medium should be seen as a compromise. Leaving the costs of the system aside, the fact of that matter is that forced air systems for houses are fairly simple to understand, and many homeowners and tradespeople who may be wary of sophisticated hydronic control systems will choose forced air over hydronics because that’s what they are familiar with. Some of the fault with that outlook lies with hydronic installers.  In the past, installers rarely left a “roadmap” with the owner or contractor, outlining just how the system’s controls were supposed to work. This may have been strategic in its intent, in that the installer would be the likely recipient of the first call made if and when the system needed attention. More likely was the probability that the installer didn’t have the ability to draw a simple, understandable ladder diagram to reflect the operational characteristics of the system.